From the small alpine municipality of Maienfeld it is just an hour’s walk to the little hamlet, and from there you will need another hour to reach the mountain pastures. On that route to the peaks of the Swiss Alps you will be awaited by vast meadows of the most colourful flowers. Along the way, exact- ly around halfway, you will come across the shack where Peter the little goat- herder lives. He is the best friend of five-year-old Heidi, the little girl who is still the first to cross my mind today when someone mentions Switzerland. Johanna Spyri’s masterpiece may be categorised as children’s literature, but I believe this story of kindness, nobili- ty, friendship and forgiveness, this ode to the magnificence of nature, is a work intended for all. I read Heidi so many times as a child that even now I can
clearly see those lush and colourful Alpine pastures as if I grew up there myself. And even today I dream of the cheese made by grand- dad from the milk of goats Schwanli and Baerli, which shines like gold and melts like butter. Proving I’m not alone in my love for Heidi, Clara, Grand- father, Peter and the goats is the fact that Heidi has long been a trademark of Switzerland and an entire stretch of the Alps belt car- ries the name ‘Heidiland’! Her official hometown is Dörfli, near Bad Ragaz spa, where, according to the story, Clara was treated. The village has a postage stamp displaying the im- age of Heidi and a museum with wax figures of all the story’s characters. Consid-
I z malog alpskog mesta Majnfeld za samo jedan sat pešice može se stići do seoceta, a još toliko će vam vre- mena trebati da stignete do planin- skih pašnjaka. Na tom putu ka vrho- vima Švajcarskih Alpa sačekaće vas nepregledna polja najšarenijeg cve- ća. Usput, negde na pola puta, naići ćete na kolibu u kojoj živi mali kozar Petar. Najbolji drug petogodišnje de- vojčice Hajdi, koja je i danas prva ko- ja mi padne na pamet kad neko kaže Švajcarska. Remek-delo Johane Špiri možda spa- da u literaturu za decu, ali verujem da je priča o dobroti, plemenitosti, prija- teljstvu, opraštanju, ta oda veličan- stvenoj prirodi, štivo koje je namenje- no svima. Hajdi sam toliko puta čitala kao klinka da i sada jasno vidim te alpske pašnjake, bujne i šarene, kao da sam tamo i sama odrastala. I da- nas sanjam o siru koji deda pravi od mleka Belke i Mrkuše, koji sija kao zlato, a topi se kao puter. Da nisam usamljena u toj ljubavi pre- ma Hajdi, Klari, dedi, Petru i kozicama, svedoči i činjenica da je Hajdi odav-
no postala zaštit- ni znak Švajcarske i da čitav jedan pojas Alpa nosi ime Haj- dilend. Zvaničan za- vičaj joj je selo Du- rfli u blizini banje Bad Ragaz, gde se po priči Klara leči- la. Selo ima poštan- ski pečat, marku s likom Hajdi i mu-
zej sa voštanim figurama svih juna- ka. Smatra se jedinim zvaničnim mu- zejom slavne junakinje, ali jedini nije nikako. Mogli biste da odete do Haj- dine kuće u planini, ali imajte na umu da lokalno stanovništvo u Alpima čak 139 kuća predstavlja kao dom ove de- vojčice. Ovo remek-delo dečje književnosti prevedeno je na 50 jezika, na srpski još 1942, i prodato je u 50 miliona pri- meraka. Zato neka vam jedna od tura po Švajcarskoj svakako bude ona koju je tako živopisno opisala Johana Špiri krajem 19. veka, i sama jedna od za- štitnih znakova ove zemlje.
ered the only official museum of this fa- mous heroine, it is by no means the on- ly one. You could visit Heidi’s house in the mountains, but bear in mind that the Alpine locals present as many as 139 houses in this area as being hers. This masterpiece of children’s literature has been translated into 50 languag- es, including Serbian since 1942, and has sold 50 million copies. That’s why one of your tours of Switzerland should definitely include the Switzerland so vividly described at the end of the 19 th century by Johanna Spyri, who is her- self one of the trademark brands of this country.
| 63
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator